How hot does a 250w cfl get

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Dr.Autoflower

Auto Flower Lover
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Hey guys how hot does one of these get?Im getting ether 1 250w and 1 150w or 2 250w for my 2x2 tent. i had a 400w hps for its but i didnt want to deal with the noise cooling that thing and sold it today.

peace
 
of course its vented. with cool fresh air intake. would they be as hot as a 400w hps? or should i just get a 250watt hps air cooled? i need one with less heat so i dont need the fan on full blast since its right next to my living room, making it very annoying if its loud
 
Hey Doc, I have a dual 125 where both bulbs are in the same fixture under the hood. When I've closed the door to the 6' x 10' room they're in, it gets pretty warm in there after 12 hours. I do that to keep the room warm when it's azz-bustin cold out, cause that room is on the very end of my house, furthest from any heated room.

Not as much as one of my 400 HPS tho'. Not even close to that. Maybe a fourth of that.
 
StoneyBud said:
Hey Doc, I have a dual 125 where both bulbs are in the same fixture under the hood. When I've closed the door to the 6' x 10' room they're in, it gets pretty warm in there after 12 hours. I do that to keep the room warm when it's azz-bustin cold out, cause that room is on the very end of my house, furthest from any heated room.

Not as much as one of my 400 HPS tho'. Not even close to that. Maybe a fourth of that.
so im guessing that if 2 125 is = to a 1/4 of the heat the 400w then 2 250 should be lil over half or more. but would be double the watts of a air cooled 250watt hps. and would be cheaper, so should i go with a 250w hps?
 
Dr.Autoflower said:
so im guessing that if 2 125 is = to a 1/4 of the heat the 400w then 2 250 should be lil over half or more. but would be double the watts of a air cooled 250watt hps. and would be cheaper, so should i go with a 250w hps?

The "1/4" heat I meant was with a CFL, not an HPS. If you use a HPS, you'll have better growth, but more heat than a Flo. It depends on the type of growth you want and how you ventilate. The HPS will require more cooling.
 
StoneyBud said:
The "1/4" heat I meant was with a CFL, not an HPS. If you use a HPS, you'll have better growth, but more heat than a Flo. It depends on the type of growth you want and how you ventilate. The HPS will require more cooling.


The extra cooling is well worth flowering under HPS... I've flowered under CFL, not bad but not award winning harvests either... I now use a 400 watt HPS in a 3x3x6 closet; I have to run a vent hose from the window into the tent for cool air because without it, the temperature easily hits 90% within a matter of a few hours... I use an air conditioner affixed to the feeding end of that same vent hose for summer crops (necessary with the lack of cold air). What I'm getting at is that I noticed a doubling in my yields once I made the switch and had my closet tweaked to the new fixture... Now everything is on the same timer and all I have to do is show up to water every couple of days! I look in EVERYDAY of course, but no need to mess with the ladies! Right now I'm picking back up my green thumbs after a year with no crops... Feels good to be back but the setup is in a new place, and I haven't even had a chance to use the flowering tent in the new location yet, I'd imagine some more tweaking is in my not-so-distant future... Not complaining though! Rambling now, sorry stoned... What I'm getting at is HPS.... WELL WORTH THE INVESTMENT!!!
 
StoneyBud said:
The "1/4" heat I meant was with a CFL, not an HPS. If you use a HPS, you'll have better growth, but more heat than a Flo. It depends on the type of growth you want and how you ventilate. The HPS will require more cooling.

I guess i wasnt clear enuff

what would be more hot- 2 250cfl or 1 250watthps air cooled?
 
Dr.Autoflower said:
I guess i wasnt clear enuff

what would be more hot- 2 250cfl or 1 250watthps air cooled?

With the HPS being air cooled, I would guess they would be pretty close to being the same.

The Flo's would have almost no heat from the bulbs but would have heat from the ballasts. The air-cooled HPS would have some heat still from the bulb, plus IR from the bulb but no heat from it's ballast if the ballast were remotely positioned.

Some CFL ballasts put out more heat than others. What lumen output do the CFL's have vs. the lumen output of the HPS?

What spectrum are the CFL's?
 
500w of anything is going to get hot.

2-250w CFL (500 actual watts) vs 1-250w HPS and air cooled at that?

The CFL's would produce more heat, I would bet, in that scenario.

Wet
 
Wetdog said:
500w of anything is going to get hot.

2-250w CFL (500 actual watts) vs 1-250w HPS and air cooled at that?

The CFL's would produce more heat, I would bet, in that scenario.

Wet

I misunderstood earlier, I thought we were dealing with 400 watt HPS... :confused: anyways, I have 8 100 watt CFL'S for vegging and it kicks a little heat, but nothing like my HPS of half the wattage! In the given scenario however, we actually have Hal of the wattage HPS as CFL, therefore, I really have to agree with stoneybud and say they'd be about equal... I'd be interested in knowing which the situation be! :joint:
 
I think this involves "physics". I'm NOT well versed in the subject, BUT... this is how "I" understand it..
If you have two bulbs, consuming identical amounts of energy(watts), and one is producing 10,000 lumens, and the other is producing 5,000 Lumen. The one producing 5,000 will emit "more" heat.
Why?.. only half as much of the energy consumed, is being transformed into light, the other half "must" be transformed/emitted as heat. Is there some factor that I am not considering?.. energy consumed/work performed=efficiency ??
The way that "I" see it, 400 watts of "in"-efficient lighting is going to be harder to cool, than 400 watts of "efficient" lighting.
"IMO" you are going about the problem in reverse anyway. You need to calculate he amount of light needed/required to sufficiently light your space, and deal with that. Rather than try to control temperature by reducing your light.. "JMO"...
400 watt hps=50,000 L
150 watt flo=12,000 L (x3=36,000 L and consuming "more" energy)
If those extra 50 watts of energy are not being transformed into light, what is it being transformed into?
 
Lumen for lumen, CFLs will run hotter than a HPS. A 250 CFL will emit about 15,000 lumens. A 250W HPS will emit approx 28,000 lumens. So, you would need almost 500W of CFLs to equal the light of 1 250W HPS. Also remember, when you lower the wattage of the lights you are using, you can expect your yield to go down accordingly. Less light is going to result in less yield.

And remember that air exchange is for more than cooling. Your plants need a continual supply of fresh air all the time the lights are on. What kind of fan are you using? There are ways to deal with fan noise.
 
Gixxerman420 said:
I misunderstood earlier, I thought we were dealing with 400 watt HPS... :confused: anyways, I have 8 100 watt CFL'S for vegging and it kicks a little heat, but nothing like my HPS of half the wattage! In the given scenario however, we actually have Hal of the wattage HPS as CFL, therefore, I really have to agree with stoneybud and say they'd be about equal... I'd be interested in knowing which the situation be! :joint:

The 100W you speak of must be equivalent wattage and is not significant when talking about growing--100W equivalents are actually 23W bulbs which emit about 1500 lumens. So 8 of them is 184W and they put out about 12,000 lumens. It would take over 33 23W CFLs to equal the lumens of a 400W HPS. I can absolutely guarantee you that if you had 33 CFLs in your box, you would have substantial heat--far more than a 400W HPS puts out.
 
I don't think people actual realize the fact that cfl's run hotter, are less efficient and produce bud not on par with using and HPS...selling my HPS lights and replacing them with cfl's wld never be an option for me. You can build a box to quiet the fan if it really bothers you.
 
I love all the CFL haterz out there cause they have no clue. CFLs do not run hot i use them and i know plenty of other people that do to lights are lights if it grows ur weed then what differnce does it make
 
No hating just the truth....grow with as many cfl's as you want to...bottom line is if you sit down and do the math they do run hotter and are less efficient then an HPS...people tend to see 100w equivalent and think they are actually getting 100w output...that is not the case. If You stick enough cfl's together to reach the lumen output of a 600w hps you will find that A you are putting off more heat and B that you are using more energy to get the same lumen output.
 
bi0phreak420 said:
I love all the CFL haterz out there cause they have no clue. CFLs do not run hot i use them and i know plenty of other people that do to lights are lights if it grows ur weed then what differnce does it make

Those of us that have grown for many many years have tried every light out there. We do know what we are talking about. No one says that CFLs will not grow good bud, they will, but you spend about twice as much money to do so.

What does it matter? Lumen for lumen, CFLs cost approx twice as much in electricity every single month. And whether you believe it or not, CFLs do run hotter. And CFLs, and reflectors, and splitters, and cords generally cost more than a HPS of like lumens to purchase initially. And they generally produce significantly less bud. These are the facts.

I don't quite understand why when the facts about CFLs are pointed out that we are called haters (and jeez, I really hate that term). I feel like I wouldn't be doing my job here if I did not let new growers know that CFLs are not cooler and are not cheaper to run. Not a hater, just someone who wants the facts out there. It is simply wrong to let someone think something is cheaper when it is not.
 
Thanks THG....I knew you wld be able to break it down better. And I also hate the word hater....I don't care if you want to grow by candle light....I won't hate on you or your candles....lol. But I will point out to others that there are better alternatives.
 
Well my bottom line is that im using CFLs that's all I have to say about that
 

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